Somatic Experiencing Treatment with Social Service Workers Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Report‪)‬

In August and September of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita inflicted a devastating toll on U.S. Gulf Coast communities, leaving in the aftermath vast numbers of suffering adults and children. Disasters like these that cause massive devastation and prolonged community and economic disruption have been termed atypically strong disasters. Such strong disasters are frequently characterized by severe to very severe impairment of individual victims and survivors (Norris, 2001). In response to the devastation caused by the hurricanes, in October 2005 the administrators for a nationally based social services organization requested help from the Foundation for Human Enrichment in treating the disaster-related and vicarious trauma their staff had experienced as a result of these hurricanes. Agency administrators were concerned about the post disaster symptoms they were seeing in themselves and their staff. Many staff had fled Louisiana, leaving the agency short-handed to face mounting needs. Most of the agency staff from New Orleans were relocated to trailers in Baton Rouge, where they often conducted their work out of their cars or in local restaurants. The population of Baton Rouge tripled in a matter of days.